Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Can She Watch It? YES SHE CAN!

A new Bob The Builder DVD wasn't a tough sell on my two-year old. She loves Bob The Builder. LOVES. She can sing the whole theme song - which, I know, scary - and has been known to holler YES I CAN in response to any question that includes the words 'can you do this?" This is all to the great delight of her father, who grooves on anything related to home improvement and construction, and he looks forward to the day that he and she can don hard-hats together and build build build.

So, yeah. Present her with a Bob The Builder DVD and she yells OPEN IT OPEN IT! and then breaks into the theme song and I - mercifully, mercifully - am granted 20 minutes of Mommy Time.

But it's not the Mommy Time that sells me on this DVD (okay, it is the Mommy Time. But that's only part of it.) Building Bobland Bay - like all the other BTB shows - deals in realistic portrayals of how things are built, which is awesome in itself inasmuch this teaches kids a little bit about what really goes on on construction sites and how buildings are made, etc., etc., and it deals with portrayals of how things are build with a close emphasis on eco-sensitivity. This is really, really key for me: many children's shows place a lot of emphasis on sending proper messages v.v. kindness and sharing and cooperation (BTB does this too, in spades), but BTB goes a step further by placing eco-friendliness prominently among those messages and does it in a way that isn't remotely preachy. Being environmentally sensitive is just how it's done in the world of BTB - it's presented as a given that any interference with the earth should be done in as gentle and non-invasive a manner as possible. People need to build things - to live in, work in, play in - but they can do so in such a way that minimizes the impact of that building upon the environment. I love this message, and I love that it's presented in such a simple, matter-of-fact way.

So there're the mom props. WB loves this DVD because it has all the old BTB wonderfulness - songs, building, 'mighty machines' - and some new locations and characters (her favorite new character: Splasher. Splasher, I should say, has introduced a new dimension of activity to our bathtime routine, which is a mixed blessing.)

I try to keep WB's TV/DVD time to a minimum, but this is exactly the kind of DVD that makes feel less guilty about turning on the screen. Which, you know: WIN-WIN.

1 comment:

I could not agree more and in fact I have been impressed with the same message on Diego and Arthur and many other kids shows. The message is simple and matter-of-fact and completely understood by a child.

I like it when I am happily surprised, it almost makes up the rest of it.